Esterhazy nut cake - Hungarian or Austrian dessert
One of the hallmarks of Austria and Hungary is the chic Esterhazy cake, with a rich nutty flavor and hearty butter custard. It is not only fantastically delicious (in my opinion, this is one of the best cakes I have tried), but also insanely elegant in appearance. History claims that it was named after one of the officials of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, for whose son it was invented. But the name of a talented confectioner has sunk into oblivion.
One of the features of this cake is that it is covered with white icing, on which a characteristic gossamer pattern is applied. At first glance, it is simply unrealistic to repeat it without special artistic talents. But, as you already understood, everything is possible: to repeat at home the masterpiece of the best Austrian and Hungarian confectioners, and to decorate it so that it will not be a shame to serve it to the reception of the minister. 🙂 Let's start our acquaintance with the dessert with the ingredients.
Composition of Esterhazy
- walnuts - 180 gr.;
- egg whites - 8 pcs.;
- sugar - 200 gr.;
- flour - 3 tablespoons;
- salt - 1 pinch;
- ground cinnamon - ½ tsp.
- yolks - 4 pcs.;
- sugar - 180 gr;
- milk - 250 ml;
- boiled condensed milk - 2 tablespoons;
- cognac - 2 tbsp.
- vanillin - 0.5 g;
- butter - 300 gr.
Chocolate glaze:
- white chocolate - 100 gr;
- cream - 75 gr;
- dark chocolate - 30 gr.
Additionally:
- thick apricot jam - 2 tablespoons;
- almond petals - 10 gr.
How to make Esterhazy cake at home
Let's start cooking with baking thin protein-nut cakes. You can find out all the nuances and subtleties of this process by clicking on the link in the ingredients. A step-by-step photo recipe will help you bake these airy cakes.
Now, it's time to prepare the butter custard on the yolks for the Esterhazy cake. Easy and simple to make at home by following the step by step recipe link in the ingredients.
When the main ingredients are ready, we roast the almond petals in a dry frying pan until a pleasant smell appears. Keep an eye on them so that they do not burn and shake the pan. Remember that the thinnest petals are a very capricious product. If they are not, you can successfully do with crushed walnuts. The original cake recipe, of course, will be changed, and the classic taste of the dessert will also change, but this is a good way out. After roasting, chop the walnut and mix with two tablespoons of coconut flakes. This mixture can be used in place of the almond flakes to decorate the cake.
All that remains for us to do is to combine the cakes and cream into a delicious cake. On a serving dish, put a spoonful of cream and the first cake bottom down. Cream for the cake is needed so that in the future the cake does not slip on the dish and does not spoil our nerves. 🙂
We coat each cake with a fifth of the cream. And so we continue the assembly. We cover the last cake instead of cream with thick apricot jam.
The sides of the cake, smeared with cream, need to be decorated with cooled petals. The work is painstaking, but the result is gorgeous.
Now let's get to the frosting. We need two types of chocolate icing: white and black. For white, melt white chocolate and 50 g of cream. For black, respectively, dark chocolate and 15 grams of cream. All the details of the process can be found in this recipe .
We cover the cake with white icing and let it harden a little. It needs to be still liquid, but not flowing. Black icing is convenient to apply from a pastry bag. An ordinary package, for example, from milk or sour cream, is also suitable for this. Just cut off a small corner of it and draw concentric circles on the white icing. Immediately, with a skewer or match, we draw 8 lines in the direction from the center to the edge. We divide the resulting sectors into two more parts, but now we draw a line from the edge of the cake to the center. The result is a gorgeous cobweb. And now let the guests break their heads, thinking how you drew it. 🙂
Before serving, our handsome man must spend at least two hours in the cold, but it is better if you can set aside the whole night for this. The longer it sits, the tastier it becomes.
Admire the spectacular cut of our homemade Esterhazy cake. You can already enjoy its taste. Unforgettable tea party!
